


Lucky to be Born

by Sporksprocket



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fire Lord Zuko, Fire Nation (Avatar), Fire Nation Royal Family, Firebending & Firebenders, Politics, What if Azulon didn’t want to put all his eggs into Azula’s basket by ordering Ozai to kill Zuko, What-If, as in
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2019-10-13 14:11:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17489501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sporksprocket/pseuds/Sporksprocket
Summary: Azulon grimaces when he tells his second born, “Iroh has suffered enough. Your suffering has only just begun.”





	1. Throne Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azulon grimaces when he tells his second born, “Iroh has suffered enough. Your suffering has only just begun.”

 

   Azulon is impatient with the poor showmanship his second son is presenting to him. Yes, his granddaughter  _is_ impressive- but the thing is, he already  _knows_ that. Everytime he meets with Ozai and his family he is made known of Azula’s prodigy status and how quickly she is progressing. 

 

He is proud, but he does  _not_ need a meeting called to see the fire bending prowess- or lack thereof- of his grandchildren. He can receive progress reports of his grandchildren’s studies whenever he so chooses. Of course, he does so less often than when Lu Ten was a child, but that’s what parents are for; to oversee the petty issues like heirs while he runs an entire nation.

 

Not to mention the sham of a meeting is disgraceful. Ozai did not even allow himself or his family time to grieve for Lu Ten. Of course, Azulon is beginning to believe that even if he was given time, Ozai would not dare  _waste_ it grieving. No,  _of course not,_ not when it gives him an opportunity to try and raise his own status. His second born never did have the subtlety or care needed to be successful. His obnoxious and cold demeanor would be the end of him, Azulon swore.

 

When Zuko is left to introduce himself before his own presentation of firebending, Azulon cannot say he is surprised. Ever since his granddaughter, younger than Zuko by two years, threw sparks before his grandson ever did, Ozai has looked past his son to see his daughter. His grandson isn’t inept, of course. He asked for reports more frequently when Zuko started firebending and was told that, while no where near the level of firebending prowess of Azula, he was progressing quite well- better than average, even. 

 

Of course, that led him to believe that his own son was more than competent enough to observe this and warm up to his son again, in order to cultivate a well rounded and powerful heir. He is beginning to believe that perhaps he was wrong. 

 

When Zuko falls, it is the last straw. He orders all but Ozai out. While this isn’t what he intended for his lineage, things are starting to look like they might be lining up. Thank Agni for that at least. 

 

Azulon lays out the issues that that have been presented to him, an old strategy from his military days:

  1. Lu Ten, his grandson, the first born of his first born, is dead- perished in battle. An honorable end, but brings him to-
  2. Iroh no longer has an heir and, with the death of his daughter-in-law years previous, no way of procuring one. Of course, concubines could solve that but Iroh has always been more on the sentimental side, a strong moral compass to combat the lack of morality Ozai possesses, and would surely refuse
  3. Azulon’s insolent son, Ozai, for his behavior tonight. This reveals something unsettling about Ozai that he doesn’t quite like. Ruthlessness without compassion or reason to temper it, is a dangerous thing to leave unpunished, and while he does favor the punishment to fit the crime, this would leave him with only one grandchild. It is much too early to depend on Azula to grow into the rightful heir to the Fire Lord Throne, so-
  4. Zuko, his oldest grandchild now, has clearly been neglected by his second born in favor of his prodigal sister. With the right care, he could grow into a strong, capable leader



 

Azulon grimaces when he tells his second born, “Iroh has suffered enough. Your suffering has only just begun.”

 

Perhaps Iroh’s suffering will be mollified, at least a bit. He always did like children. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Essentially, it takes place exactly the same as canon- for the most part. The only difference is what Azulon means “losing your firstborn”


	2. Loose Ends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azulon was beginning to think he might be getting too old for this. At his age, his worries should be how to conquer the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes, not family issues.

 

     After Ozai leaves, Azulon calls for a scribe. Normally he would allow Iroh the time he has requested, but the circumstances call for Iroh to return. He dictates to the scribe a letter asking Iroh to return because of lineage matters. He hopes it is vague enough yet still sounds pressing enough that Iroh will indeed heed his call. He suspects Iroh’s request was not actually a request, but rather just a notification of his whereabouts and the status of the now abandoned Siege of Ba Sing Se. His firstborn  _had_ always been independent. 

 

He tells other servants to prepare Iroh’s quarters in preparation of the Crown Prince’s return and, while he is disappointed in Iroh’s failure, he raised him to be a top tier military strategist and trusts him enough to at least wait until Iroh returns to defend himself.

 

Azulon then goes about altering the lineage which requires numerous signatures, some observed by officials in order to ensure it is not forgery, until he has finished altering the line of succession. 

 

Afterwards, he orders a room to be prepared for Prince Zuko in Iroh’s wing, away from his family. He can see many possible reactions Ozai will have and it is perhaps best to put some room in between the father and son. 

 

Speaking of his secondborn, Azulon beckons his most trusted servant, Jiao-long, forward. He orders him to discreetly patrol down Ozai’s wing of the palace and make sure that nothing is amiss. 

 

He returns to finishing up the plans he has put in order tonight and finishes by the time Jiao-long returns. He reports of quiet yelling in Ozai’s own quarters, which does not really surprise Azulon. However, Azula’s empty room and the conflicting report of both cheerful chanting and angry yelling in Zuko’s room disturbs him. 

 

Since Zuko appears to be awake, he tells Jiao-long, and his new rooms ready for him, why not have his grandson transferred to his new room? Although he does not say it out loud, it would do no good for Zuko fall to harm  _now._ At the very least it would make all the paperwork he has just completed useless. 

 

Jiao-long sets off again to Ozai’s wing. Azulon, finished with his plans, heads to his own quarters. By the time he reaches it, Jiao-long comes quickly walking down the hall towards him. Jiao-long reports of new issues that would make Azulon’s head spin if he wasn’t an old, tired man.

 

After he is dressed and in bed, Azulon makes a new list:

  1. Zuko feared that he was going to be killed by his own father Ozai, which implies: a) Zuko believes Ozai to be willing to kill him and b) something or someone led him to believe that tonight would be the night he was going to be killed (Azulon fears he knows just who that someone might be)
  2. Zuko had also said ‘Azula always lies,’ and while he did not mean to be heard (perhaps even more telling than if he had announced it), it presented another worrying problem



 

Azulon was beginning to think he might be getting too old for this. At his age, his worries should be how to conquer the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes, not family issues. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to baby names .net, Jiao-long means “looks like a dragon” which I thought was pretty fitting for the fire nation lol. Tell me if that’s not right haha not really a reliable site


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new grief, a different kind of pain than the grief he has for his son. He has never grieved for the childhood his nephew has had taken from him. He doesn’t know how to process all of the changes that have happened.

     Iroh has been putting off the letter requesting him home for long enough, he decides. Overwhelming grief and the upheaval of his entire understanding of the world as he knows it was enough to convince him to not come immediately. After all, he had given his entire life to his father and his nation as a whole and, perhaps, had been ruining the rest of the world in doing so. 

 

But the letter vaguely mentioned lineage and the line of succession without including any actual details. He was curious enough to return to the palace and make sure all was still right at home as it was not for him. 

 

Besides, it would be suspicious if he did not return. His doubt of the power and excellence of the Fire Nation was not yet known and, if Agni truly cared for the world and its inhabitants, would not become known. He had met certain new  _associates_ so to speak that agreed with him that maintaining his position of power could be beneficial to the order of the world. So, back to the capital it was. 

 

Of course, he did not expect to return to his father notifying him that not only did his younger brother make an attempt to usurp him, but that this attempt resulted in the reassigning of Zuko to Iroh as his new heir in order to maintain a successful and competent lineage. 

 

Iroh does care for his niece and nephew, no doubt about it. But the war has kept him away for long enough that the time spent with his younger brother’s family that he has not spent as much time with them as he wished he could. 

 

The other details Azulon notifies him of makes Iroh think that his absence might have actually been  _harmful_ to his nephew. Iroh knew his brother furiously believed in the superiority of firebenders and that Zuko’s perceived ineptness in this subject and lack of passion in any other ‘useful’ subjects made Zuko a less than favored heir. 

 

He didn’t, however, know that Ozai would then ignore Zuko to focus on Azula instead. He didn’t know Ozai would put his children against each other. He didn’t know that his nephew feared what his father would do to him.

 

A new grief, a different kind of pain than the grief he has for his son. He has grieved for the dead before: his mother, his wife, and now his son. But he has never grieved for the childhood his nephew has had taken from him. He has never had to grieve for the time he should’ve spent here. He doesn’t know how to process all of the changes that have happened, but he is no longer wet behind the ears, he is not a child. But there _is_ a child in the palace that he is now in charge of. 

 

So, he goes to collect his nephew. Tea will be good for them both. 


	4. Chapter 4

When Iroh enters Zuko’s room, he is greeted more cheerfully than he has been in years.

 

”Uncle!” Zuko yells and runs over from where he was sitting on his bed to come see him. Zuko bows but Iroh gathers him in a hug instead. Zuko hesitantly returns it. 

 

When they separate, Zuko’s smile drops and he lowers his eyes. “I’m sorry about Lu Ten, Uncle.” 

 

“As am I, nephew,” Iroh gives himself a moment to be sad for himself before refocusing on Zuko. “Would you like to get some tea with me?”

 

”If you don’t mind.”

 

”I could never mind the company of my beloved nephew,” Iroh smiles despite his worry. “I am looking forward to a properly brewed cup myself, after so long away.”

 

When they are seated and the tea is brewing, Iroh notices Zuko looking as if he wants to say something. He waits for him to speak before realizing that Zuko might choose to not say anything. 

 

“Something troubling you, Zuko?” He does not look at Zuko, but instead gazed at the tea as he begins to pour two cups. He hopes that the lack of eye contact will come across as welcoming and not as an absence of attention. His nephew was never the most confident child, and Iroh cannot really blame him.

 

Zuko blushes and looks to the ground, “I was just wondering what you think about the, uh, new changes the Fire Lord has decreed.”

 

Iroh smiles at Zuko until Zuko raises his eyes to look at him. “If you worry about what I think about you being my new heir, than you need not worry. Prince Zuko, I am delighted.”

 

Zuko smiles for the first time since his greeting this morning and Iroh almost sighs. He has forgotten the difficulty of raising children and the awareness they possess. While Iroh has been off busy with matters regarding himself after the death of his son, Zuko has been here worrying about whether Iroh would accept him.

 

Iroh thinks he has a lot set out in front of  him.


	5. Onwards

Of course, all of this does not stop Ozai from what he does best- plotting. He plans it all out and still manages to get it wrong. He poisons his father and forges a will and has it all set in place. 

 

Only, he has never seen a high ranking document such as a will or official lineage, because it is kept for the eyes of the Firelord and the sages. So when he forges this document, he does not get the necessary signatures in order to make this a genuine will.

 

So, of course, it doesn’t work and the new Firelord Iroh is made aware. He promptly expels Ozai from all official business and assigns some of his most trusted guards to stealthily observe Ozai and make sure Ursa and Azula are safe. 

 

And then to other business- specifically, he does not want to rule. He plots and plots and makes it official that when Zuko comes of age he will take over, instead of the usual tradition of lineage advancing only in the event of the death of the Firelord.

 

Now of course, Zuko does not need to know just yet. The pressure is a bit much for a ten year old and he will already be aware that he will be the next Firelord. That is enough, Iroh thinks. 

 

With his guidance, Zuko will be the right ruler for their horribly misguided nation. Of course, Iroh will try to start what Zuko may hopefully come to continue. It’s time to get to work.

 

—

 

As they flew across the earth kingdom, Aang hummed. His friends were napping in Appa’s saddle while he sat on Appa’s head, preferring to keep him company rather than rest. They had some exhausting adventures and were getting some rest while they covered some ground. 

 

When Aang woke up, he came across two Southern Water Tribe kids- Sokka and Katara who were snoring behind him- who had brought him back to their recovering home. They told him there was a war, and it had only ended a few years previously. The men had returned, most of them at least, and they were still rebuilding. Of course, they were receiving money and resources- sometimes even workers should they want them- from the Fire Nation. But a lot of it they turned away, prideful and resentful to the nation that had harmed them so much. 

 

Sokka and Katara desired to see the world, Sokka to gather more information about the world so he could later rule well and informed as chief and Katara to learn more about her waterbending.

 

They journeyed to the Northern Water Tribe because where else would you find a waterbending teacher. They arrive to discover that no one there knows about the end of the war. Or, perhaps, the information is chosen not to be shared by the top officials, judging by the recent looking armor they find in a closet. 

 

Once they settle all of that, including getting Katara a water bender teacher, they decide they know enough about the Water Tribes and set off to the Earth Kingdom. 

 

The whole mission, at least for Aang, was to re-educate himself on the current circumstances of the new world he found himself in. A personal mission that he privately had was showing both Sokka, Katara, and the rest of world the world he grew up in. Showing how the separate nations of the world connected and interacted and coexisted. 

 

Sokka and Katara has never even left the South Pole and Aang could tell they were curious. Mostly, at least. They were still a little resentful towards the Fire Nation so they were putting that off until later. 

 

They had recently picked up a new friend, Toph, along the way. Toph, luckily, had no such reservations about the Fire Nation and Aang hoped she would influence the others into being a little more open minded and courageous when it came to going there.

 

After all, being the Avatar means he would need a fire bending teacher.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, funny story. Every other story I have posted here also has a corresponding summary that I have written for it. It’s never that detailed but it does have the general shape of the story so I know where I’m going with it. 
> 
> I do not have a summary for this story. 
> 
> Therefore I was brainstorming real quick and came up with this. I know as a reader who clicked based on everything else that has been previously portrayed that this would probably be disappointing. But it was either this or nothing as I didn’t know how else to continue it. 
> 
> So I hope you still continue to stick with this story as I do know now what is sortve want to happen. 
> 
> I only noticed recently the attention this has gotten, so thanks so much it’s wild to think people actually read this- which is why the whole ‘I have no idea what I’m doing with this’ thing is even worse


End file.
